This is a project I originally completed in 2020.

A kantele is a traditional Finnish box zither, a string instrument. It is typically plucked or strummed, but can also be used with a bow.

Since it was my first time building one, I found some pre-existing plans from Michael J King. The plans provided all the necessary information for sizing and placement for the tuning pins.

I found some nice quarter-sawn sapele for the soundboard, a beautiful wood that’s also a decent tone wood. The sides of the frame are also from the same board of sapele, and then for the rest I chose hard maple as a good wood for holding the tuning pins and the stock steel bar.

Figure 3. Gluing the stock of the frame.

Figure 4. Gluing the head of the frame.

Figure 5. Shaping the frame.

When gluing the frame, I inserted a few dowels between the maple and the sapele sides to stop movement during gluing. I added an additional piece of sapele on the bottom of the maple head to complete the frame, and then did shaping using chisels, gouges, rasps and files to finish off the shape of the frame.

Next, it was time to attach the soundboard. I cut it to a very rough shape first for gluing it to the frame, and then trimmed it down to match the frame after.

I wanted to add some accent between the soundboard and the maple head, so I made some strips of wood from bloodwood and wenge. The red and dark colors complement the otherwise fairly light instrument very nicely.

Figure 8. Exotic wood blocks I cut the strips from.

Figure 9. Planning the size of the accents.

Figure 10. Gluing the accent strips together.

Figure 11. Gluing the accent to the instrument.

Figure 12. Gluing a thin piece of maple to finish off the top.

With the frame and the soundboard complete, it only remained to add the main stock that holds the steel bar for the strings to attach. I spent a lot of time shaping the stock, since that’s where the player’s right hand rests most of the time.

Figure 13. The shaped stock.

Figure 14. Wooden parts fully assembled.

Before proceeding to add the hardware parts, I added the finish to the wood. I wanted to do a classic french polishing, which is basically rubbing on very, very thin layers of shellac to build up a hundred or more layers of finish. It’s time-consuming, but the outcome is stunning. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of the process.

Figure 15. Adding the steel rod.

Figure 16. Drilling holes for the zither pins. The only time I used a power tool.

After finishing, I added the steel bar to the stock, drilled the holes for the zither pins, and added strings.

Thank you for reading.